Joseph Conrad: Influences and Early Life

Joseph Conrad was born in 1857 to Polish parents (Gorra 42). His classic novella Heart of Darkness is based largely on his personal journey to the Dark Continent in 1890. His naval adventures with the French Merchant Marines and British Merchant Service greatly influenced each of his works (Hampson 99). Jozef Teodor Konrad Nalecz Korzeniowski was born on December 3, 1857 to members of the Polish gentry in a Russian occupied section of the country (Conrad 1 & Gorra 43). Before the should-be jubilant age of five, Conrad and his parents were exiled to an area north of Moscow. Each parent died of tuberculosis within four years of each other. Young Jozef, then twelve years old, was left to his uncle on his mother’s side. Jozef must have lived a relatively uneventful life with his uncle until 1874, when we finally catch up with him again. In this year, Jozef made a decision that really was no decision at all. Rather than serve in an army that was responsible for his current situation -and with an unexplainable yearning for the sea- Jozef left Cracow for France (Gorra 43). The future author wound up in Marseilles and began to learn the ways of an officer in the French Merchant Marine service.

His first stop upon leaving Europe was the territorial capital of the Congo: Boma. On June 13, 1890, Conrad’s party landed at “the terminating point of navigation on the Lower Congo”: Matadi. In Matadi, Conrad began a vague diary that would help plot his ventures and thoughts through August 1, 1890. Also in Matadi, Joseph met with the chief of his company’s station, a Mr. Grosse. During his two week stay here, he met frequently with Mr. Grosse and another Mr. Roger Casement. The impressions that Marlow finds so vital in Heart of Darkness can be traced back to Conrad’s outstanding first impression of Mr. Casement who he describes as